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$175 Credit on AGL Advantage 10 (VIC, SA, NSW, parts of QLD)

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The 10% discount on electricty and gas is so so. However the $175 credit (on the first bill) is the highest i've ever seen. This will suit households on lower usage (households with higher usage would benefit from larger discount rather than the credit). Catch is a 3 year contract. However, i was recently rung by AGL to switch to a new offer/contract. I mentioned that i have not finished the term of my existing AGL contract but was told that there would not be any penalty as i was staying within AGL. So one could do some 'creative switching' within AGL to maximize the credit even more and not be tied down to the 3 years.

T&C's:
Offers end 30 September 2012 unless extended. Offers not available in all areas. ^Three year fixed term Advantage 10 electricity plan and/or three year fixed term Advantage 10 gas plan. Terms and conditions apply. Fees and charges including early termination fees apply. Customers signing a new market contract will receive an AGL Assist voucher. Offers available to eligible customers. Offer unavailable to solar customers. The discount applies to peak, off-peak and shoulder energy usage charges, and will appear as a separate credit (GST exclusive) on your bill. The discount does not apply, for example, to fixed daily energy supply charges, demand charges or AGL Green ChoiceTM charges. †You will receive a one off $175 credit on your first electricity bill when you switch to an AGL Advantage 10 three year fixed term electricity plan. ††Energy plan terms and conditions apply. flybuys BONUS POINTS available until 31 October 2012 (unless extended) only on new residential AGL accounts that are signed up online. Customers must also link their new AGL household account/s and flybuys membership, and sign up to AGL Energy Online and eBilling to receive flybuys BONUS POINTS. Maximum 10,000 flybuys BONUS POINTS per flybuys membership. Offer only available in VIC, SA, NSW and those parts of QLD where AGL operates. ActewAGL, Powerdirect and AGL business customers are not eligible for flybuys points from AGL. Terms and conditions and eligibility criteria apply. See flybuys.com.au/AGL for details.

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  • This appears to be a great deal, good find!

  • +3

    I was with AGL before. In my experience, they are painful to deal with.

    • +4

      and who isn't ?

      • I am with Click Energy now, never had any issue with them.

        • +7

          So how do you know what they are like to deal with if you've never had an issue?

        • Typical logic on the Internet, people just love to hate/love companies without reason :)

        • "never had any issue with them" means everything goes smoothly, all the credits were applied automatically on every bill. Not like with AGL, with the $50 credit i had to chase them so hard to get it.

        • -1

          Are you serious, are you 12 years old?

          You can't base anything off one issue.

          For all you know, Click Energy has a higher percentage of discounts not being applied then AGL.

          I've seen a Sony TV stop working, better tell everyone to stop buying Sony TV's as they are the worst brand in the world!

        • From where did you read that? I only said "in on my experience". I did not claim anything else. It is up to everyone's judgement. Everyone is here to share their experience, and i don't see anything wrong with that.

        • Its the way you went about it, you have no idea if Click Energy is a good company.

          Think of a company with the worst track record, they still have customers who think they have the best track record because of lack of issues.

          Even when looking online for customer reviews none of them mention customer numbers so going with that company nobody has heard of does not mean its better.

        • -1

          And my point wasn't about who's discount is higher. My point was one is easy, another is so.. painful. And please don't exaggerate what i said, i did not claim who is the best, who is the worst. Please read!

        • +2

          I am with Click Energy now, never had any issue with them.

          ..YET.

    • Ive been with AGL for Gas and Electricity for the past 3 years and never had a problem dealing with them. In fact, they were very easy to deal with each time I contacted them. No pain whatsoever. And they stuck true to their word. When I first went on a contract with them they offered me 5% discount. With a bit of bargaining, they up'd it to 7% and at that time the Indian (I mention the race here on purpose as whenever someone says "support person" in their comment on OzB, it usually is preceded by the word "Indian" and negative feedback is provided, so here's my feedback to try and remove the stereotype that bad support is related to Indian support people) guy who I spoke to said after about a year (or sooner) I could ask for a higher discount up to 10%. Rang them up after about 8-10 months and voila, they increased my discount to 10% off gas and electricity usage (however that did reset the contract to 2yrs from the start).

      Also when there have been electrical faults and blackouts in my area (as recent as 4 weeks ago) they were already on the case and advised in a recording that the issue will be fixed within an hour. Less than one hour later and lights were back on as normal.

      Also, if you have a Flybuys card with Coles, you can link your bills to AGL and each time you pay a bill to AGL, you earn a point for each dollar on that bill. Easy.

  • What are the rates?

  • Peak
    First 7000 kWh c/kWh 20.60 22.660
    Thereafter c/kWh 29.10 32.010
    Controlled load 1^ c/kWh 8.20 9.020
    Controlled load 2^^ c/kWh 10.80 11.880
    Supply charge c/day 48.00 52.800

    Not too bad I think.

    The 10% off and the $175 makes it a sweet deal

    • +1

      Rates depend on your postcode and meter type.

    • "†You will receive a one off $175 credit on your first electricity bill"

      "The discount does not apply, for example, to fixed daily energy supply charges…"

      So if your variable bill component is under $175 you won't get it.

      • What does that Varibable biil mean?

        • The part of your bill exclusive of fixed supply charges (aka service to property charge, service availability charge, meter charge etc). The fixed charges are a daily charge that applies whether you use any electricity or not.

  • Be careful with three year contracts in the energy market. Generally speaking the big three retailers in Victoria (AGL, TRU and Origin) have far less competitive rates than the smaller retailers. Always compare kWh price and factor in pay on time discounts, credits, fees and early termination fees if you move house. Remember there is a price increase once a year or more, for example this year there are two due to the carbon price.

    • -2

      in NSW it seems prices are fixed by IPART

      • +1

        Nope, IPART merely recommended the default rates for customers with default retailers in each area.

        Retailers are free to charge higher/different rates to their customers in "market contracts".

        • +2

          Maldrat is correct. However, most charge the same.

  • Does this apply to current customers?

    I dont know if its worth it to lost my 13% discount for this as I wont be able to get that back once I get the credit :\

  • Hmm Im paying
    First - $0.239120
    Remainder - $0.249900

    Access - $0.615440

    Would be it adviseable to change?

    First 7000 kWh c/kWh 20.60 22.660
    Thereafter c/kWh 29.10 32.010
    Supply charge c/day 48.00 52.800

    • Depends on your usage. If your not using the thereafter then it would be good to change, but if you do use alot after the 7000 then probably not. I am guessing that 7000 is per year

      • More likely 7000kWh per month if this is in Victoria. No 7000kWh/year steps in Vic AFAIK.

  • We used 3118kWh in 95days.

    Hmmm

    • Well with AGL it would be approximaetely $3,529.20 a year or with your current provider is would be $3,265.47 a year including servcie charge

      This is just an estimate based on the rates and the amount of kWH consumed a quarter times by 4 to get a year

      Also no idea if the first provider your with now is including gst or not

      • oh ic. wow so AGL is more expensive.

        Yeah the rates are including GST.

        hmm so maybe i'll just stay with them

        • Allthough I forgot to include the 10% discount silly enough. It would actually work out cheaper, end up being about $3,198 a year with AGL

          So not really worht it for the hassle and the fees you would have to pay to switch, unless the credit is worthwile

          Be best to just call up your current provider and bargain with them. I got 10% off with AGL on gas and electricity within 10 minutes by just saying I will move to another provider

        • ah cool tip. Thanks!

          I think we get 2% off at the moment. Used to be 4%.

          These power companies are so dodgy!

        • Yeah but we really dont have a choice except to get solar panels, but even that relies on power companies in some way

          I would just call up your provider and say youve been offered a 10% discount and $175 credit on your first bill, and see what they can do for you

  • In Qld, the tariff 1 cost is more like 26c/kWh… that probably includes 10% discount, not sure. They've made it pretty hard to identify the exact cost

    Click Energy works out to about 23c/kWh after discount, with no contract. In saying that, Qld gov is looking at abolishing the exit fees

    • Also, AGL have said they're revising their QLD pricing on 12 July. I'm waiting for that before making any decisions. Keen to move away from Origin though!

    • Tariff 11 default rates (undiscounted, ex GST), from 1/07/2012
      Usage: 23.071 c/kWh
      Service: 26.17 c/day

      • Thanks. Where did you find this? Note: excluding GST

      • Yep, those are the market rates. It's not clear whether they'll adopt those for their contract rates yet.

  • Just signed up 3 days ago to Advantage 10. Now going to terminate within the cooling off period and reapply for the $175. I hope this is only just started today as they never mentioned it to me on Friday.

    • Title should read NSW only. No good in QLD

  • hmm

    Sorry, your transaction could not be completed. If the problem persists, please contact AGL on 1800 813 028 (8am – 8pm, Monday to Friday) and quote C04-061.

  • not available to solar customers ??

    damn - this would pay my whole annual bill :-P

  • +7

    Some pointers when doing electricity comparisons.

    • The systems are completely different in Vic and other states.
    • The rates are different for different postcodes.
    • The rates are different for different meter/tariff configurations in the same postcode (eg: residential time of use, residential flat rate, business 7 day time of use etc).
    • The rates are different for customers in the same postcode with the same meter/tariff configuration if they are in different distribution networks - i.e. border suburbs.
    • If you're getting a quote over the phone, make sure that they ask for your NMI number. They will check this on the national database (MSATS) to work out the exact tariff and provide you the correct rates. Most telemarketers and many brokers simply provide the most common/cheapest sounding rates for each area without checking the NMI.
    • The rates usually increase in the middle of the year in NSW/QLD and in January in VIC.
    • Some retailers only apply discounts to usage charges. The service to property charges are sometimes not discounted and may be higher than other retailers.
    • Do not be wary of contracts. The break fees are minimal in most states. You may however have to pay back a pro-rata portion of the sign-on bonus.
    • The rates on your electricity bills are always GST exclusive. GST is added separately. The current discounts you're getting may appear on the back page or the front page. Some retailers include the discounts in the rates, and then put the discount figure in bold print in the front page so it looks as if you're getting two discounts - you aren't.
    • Compare your current rates with the GST exclusive discounted rates from your new supplier. Try to recreate a bill if you can.
    • Many customers have stepped rates. Steps are usually the same for a given tariff with all retailers although they may quote those for different billing periods (eg: 333kWh/month=999kWh/Quarter=3996kWh/year), as this is derived from the network charges the retailers have to pay your distribution companies.
    • Check your rates once every six months or so.
    • There's nothing wrong with Smart Meters (unless you wear a tinfoil hat).
    • For smaller customers (<$20k/year), smaller retailers are usually more competitive than publicly listed tier one retailers. You may have to compromise on customer service etc, but who calls their electricity retailer anyway. The physical supply is the same regardless of the retailer.

    Source: I consult for large commercial users.

  • Umm my AGL rates are going up 20% from tomorrow yet they are still quoting my current rates. So if you signed up you would get zero use at the rates quoted.
    Feel sorry for ppl getting sucked into this.

  • Seems the offer for $175 off 1st bill is for NSW only. For VIC, they offer 15% off usage charges on a 3 year contract. Seeing that my bill of usage charges is around 450$ or so for 90 days…that would save 15% = 67.5$ every 3 months compared to my current Freedom 3% Plan.Seeing contract breakage fee is only 75$ , it should even out fine if you use this plan for even 2-3 billing cycles :)

    Anyone got the CC to agree on the $175 Credit ?

  • +1

    In NSW, Origin Energy can be pushed to a 16% (12+2+1+1) discount off electricity usage and 14% discount (10+2+1+1) off gas usage with contract length of 12 months.
    http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/69872#comment-889070

    • yes thats correct. this is what I have. but I also received a $100 credit off first bill.
      I rang up AGL (as I am with them) and they said to me cant do it. oh well. C-ya later AGL and hello origin.
      Origin is only a 1 year contract.

  • I'm shocked when I see other peoples rates. We get 17.1 cents/kWh before GST on a peak only rate. (Carbon tax won't affect us) Then again, I'm from Victoria so things often are cheaper.

  • Interesting comments so far. Energy pricing looks quite complex and its probably unlikely that one supplier will have a pricing that suits everyone. But I like to know if anyone has tried some 'Creative Switching'. Using AGL as an example, after getting the $175 credit at the end of the first month, switch to 'AGL Advantage 7 + $100' plan, then after getting the $100 credit, switch to another AGL plan with credit and so on (staying within the same energy supplier to avoid penalties). By switching every few months or so, you could get quite a bit in credit.

    • It would be great if that were possible. But I suspect AGL would only allow you to switch from a plan with a shorter fixed term to a plan with a longer term (eg. switch from 1 year to 3 year plan but not other way around). Otherwise AGL would be leaving open a backdoor to break a 3 year contract by first switching to a month-to-month plan and then switching to a competitor.

      • Unless you switch to a Friends and Family plan if you know someone who works there. I went from a new 3 year contract to a no contract with no problems because im switching to the Friends and Family discount. So you could possibly do that in between each plan with credit :)

        • thanks rldowling03, good to know.

  • booo to WA monopolies on power….

  • Thanks op, I switched to the 10% off gas and electicity plan with the $175.00 credit.

    I asked the person I spoked to over the phone that if it was possible to switch to the 15% off plan (with no credit) after my first bill (when the $175.00 credit is applied)and he said it was fine.

    • thanks Bargainaholic. I'm planning to switch after i get the $175 credit too. Good to hear that other people have been told the same thing by AGL.

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